The view of Guangzhou from the Tian Bar inside the Four Seasons Hotel.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergWhat China’s Middle Class Says About Trump, Trade and Tomorrow
- Interviews spanning the nation show a resilient optimism
- Concerns about property markets, lending outweigh trade issues
As China’s slowdown hits home, the millions of middle class families created during the nation’s boom gathered for Lunar New Year reunions, to celebrate their good fortune and ponder the economic storm clouds gathering over the country.
To take the pulse of this group, which China is relying on to raise spending and reduce an increasingly rocky dependence on global trade, we visited 12 cities in nine provinces that reflect a cross-section of China’s economy. We talked to 20 people including sales managers, government officials and more than a dozen other professional workers to ask them how much the gloomy outlook has damped their optimism. The answer in most cases — it hasn’t.